Has anyone stayed here before. I would like some info on the length and difficulty of the hike to this campsite. Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Josh

sammcdonald

03-31-2008, 04:28 PM

it's about 4 miles to cabin flats...trail is easy and very pretty....at about the three mile mark, you will cross a bridge, and on the bank to your right you will see a faint trail....follow it up the bank and back to the left to a single grave...
sam

2oclock60ftnow

04-08-2008, 11:49 PM

I've camped there several times, and it's a great site. I have quite a story from it as well.
Two years ago in August a buddy and I were camping and fishing for a few days. We decided to hike down to the truck to run into town to call our wives and when we reached the parking lot we noticed a university bus (don't remember which one) parked there with about 15 or so students getting out. We exchanged hellos and continued on our way. Since we fished our way down and we already had our rods we decides to fish Beech Flats Prong nearby and fished until nearly dark.
We arrived back the parking lot at the campground as the last few beams of light from the sun faded. We did not notice if the bus was gone or not. But in the small talk made with the students, we figured they would not be staying anywhere up Bradley Fork Trail. Now don't get me wrong...I am in no way racist, but I have never seen a black person on any of the trails in the mountains in our part of the country (not to say they dont...)...EVER.
The trail at this time of day can seem pretty dang spooky. When we made our turn to the right after the bridge, and got maybe 10 yards up the trail, at the opening trail on the right that led to our campsite, there was an early 20's black guy standing there looking very scared and lost.:eek: Every hair on my body stood on end...He had no shirt or shoes on, just very dirty shorts. We also had no flashlights with us since we didn't consider being gone so long, so that added still to his disturbing apperance. We thought we were going crazy..."Is there someone really standing there?:confused: " we asked ourselves. Yep, there was...turned out to be part of the group from the college who went looking for his friends. Not lost though, just looking kinda worn out and dirty and pretty out of place. He figured it out, if he didn't know already by the expressions on our faces.

When the rest of the group appeared, they spent the rest of the evening walking through our campsite on their way to relieve themselves...:mad: Not what I expected to see way up there. So...we listened to college kids holler all night. No more peace and quiet. I still have no idea where the put everyone since the site upstream from there is small. What a night....
The fishing can be epic up Bradley though...one of my largest and most colorful wild rainbows I have ever battled came from there was 16" and had the most beautiful ruby gill plates. :rolleyes:

I hope you have an awesome trip there.

P.S.- Go as past the campground to by pass tubers in the summer.;)

ajh10567

06-05-2008, 10:58 PM

This is a fly fishing message board last time I checked.

mtnman2888

06-06-2008, 04:49 AM

Make sure and check the park website before you go as this campsite is often closed due to bear activity. It has two negatives going for it as far as that is concerned. One is it's relatively close position to smokemont campground which draws the bears in while the other is it's position close to the balsam ridge. I have heard that from bradley fork all the way east to big creek acorns are always very abundant along that ridge and therefore the bears tend to hang out in those areas more. Not trying to sway you or anything, but just make sure it's not closed before you go. You'll really enjoy bradley's fork, though, great stream!

Craig

mora521

06-06-2008, 04:52 PM

I met a black Park Ranger back in 90 or so,up at the last bridge before Fish Camp Prong.He was headed up to campsite 30 to check up on some locals who had reserved it.They were notorious bait fishing,Brook Trout eating,seng poaching rascals.I thought it was pretty cool since most rangers stick pretty close to the car.

bugg

06-10-2008, 09:51 PM

This is a fly fishing message board last time I checked.

what does that have to do with anything?

TroutAssassin

06-11-2008, 09:29 AM

what does that have to do with anything?
I think a spammer had posted up something non-fishing related in this thread a while back(now its deleted) and that fella was responding to what the spammer had posted.